Guys, I know I should be working on updating Come Along, We'll be a Real Family and Hart of a Kinsella, and I promise I am working on them, but this little gem hit and the itch to write was by far too strong to ignore.
The events within this story are canon for season 1 and 2 and happens a year after Zoe leaves Bluebell.
Disclaimer: I do not own Hart of Dixie as the show and characters belong to their respectful parties, and I mean no harm.
Enjoy!
"I wish with everything in me that I could say yes," she told her boyfriend, kneeling on one knee before her, strangers in the park stopping to watch the scene unfold, making this moment harder and so very embarrassing.
"Zoe, you can," he pleaded, standing up to his full height, towering a few feet above his girlfriend, the woman he is madly and deeply in love with. "Please, Zoe," he begged, tears coming to his eyes.
Zoe shook her head, wiping her own tears away, thankful for waterproof everything. "I love you, Jonah, but I love him more," she whispered.
For the past year she wanted to forget about the life she had in Bluebell, wanted to forget about the man who held her heart. Wanted everything to be different. She wanted to call New York home, but she couldn't. She found a rhythm for the year she has been in the city. Found a nice groove with Jonah. Maybe if her heart wasn't in Bluebell, she could say yes to him.
She didn't forget, she didn't move on. She tried, but clearly it didn't work. The one thing that never came was the feeling of home in the city. And that should have told her everything she needed to know a heck of a lot sooner.
"Then I have to ask, why are you still here?" Jonah questioned, snapping the ring box shut and placing it in his pocket. "I love you, Zoe, I do, but I won't hold you back from your true love. But you can't have him if you're here. So I ask again why are you still here?"
He figures he should be mad that he isn't the guy Zoe wants to spend the rest of her life with. Should be mad that she can't love him the way he loves her. Should be beyond mad that she turned his proposal down. Being mad is the furthest thing from his mind. Zoe is his best friend and he wants her to be happy and he won't take that away from her. And he had been the one to tell his cousin that he doesn't do love. It only ever leads to heartbreak, he can contest to that.
"I don't know," Zoe whispered, frowning. "Why am I here?" She asked, furrowing her brows. Loving a certain bartender wasn't a new revelation for her. "Maybe because it's been a year and he's moved on," she answered, giving him a small shrug.
"Maybe he hasn't," Jonah coaxed her. He has family there so he knows the ongoings of Bluebell. As far as he knew she only talked to Lavon, Annabeth, and Rose. And he was certain they didn't sit around and gossip about Wade, as it would only hurt Zoe. And her friends didn't want that for her.
"Even so," she sighed, her eyes dropping to the ground. "I have too much stuff here to worry about," she lamely told him.
"You made the move once you can make the move again," Jonah stated. He wasn't going to let her back out of this. If she wasn't going to marry him, she was going to do something about the man she left behind. Zoe shook her head ready to protest. "It's perfectly okay to be scared of what is going to happen when you get there," he softly told her. "Do you want to give up and live a shell of the life you can have by going back?"
"You don't get it," she replied choking back a sigh. "It's not that easy."
"It is if you let it," he said. "Take the weekend and figure out what you want, what makes you happy. Do what you want and not what anyone wants you to do. You'll never know if you don't go. You don't have all the answers Zoe, he has the ones you can't answer," Jonah told her with a small smile. He pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. "Don't let yourself down," he whispered, walking off.
She walked around the city in a daze, not even stopping to get any of her favorites, didn't bother answering her phone when her friends called. She wanted to be left alone. She didn't know what the right choice is. She could stay and try to build her life up once more in the city or she could go home and fix the mess she left behind. As much it was Wade's mess with him cheating, he realized his mistakes, he tracked her down, he apologized, he said point-blank that he loves her. Or maybe now it was loved. Needing to know what tense of love Wade held, saw her a plane.
It wasn't until she was on the flight to Alabama that she wondered if going back was going to be worth it or if she was only going to be heartbroken once more.
Landing in Mobile felt refreshing in so many ways. She could breath, her whole body tingled at being so close to home. It was in that moment she decided that no matter what happened with Wade she would stick it out because this is her home now.
"It is so good to see you," Zoe smiled, hugging who has easily became her best friend in the little town.
"Lavon, is happy to see you Big Z," the mayor smiled, happily wrapping her up in the warm embrace. "I am sorry that you can't stay in the carriage house," he told her, pulling back from the embrace. He had let his cousin Lynly stay there since Zoe had told him time and time again that she had no plans to return to Bluebell. "I can offer you a room in the main house," he offered with a smile. It made the most sense with how often she was in the house to begin with. "How long are you staying?" He asked, helping her carry her luggage.
"It was only going to be for a few days, but I have decided that I can't leave again," she smiled. "Why are you going to take away the offer to stay in the main house?" She asked a bit nervous, thinking that maybe he would do just that.
"You really are still crazy," Lavon chuckled, shaking his head, as he led her outside to his navigator. "You can stay as long as you want. I was just curious about the whole Wade situation, as you know he still lives in the gate house," he felt the need to point out. He didn't want to be placed in the middle of any awkward, tension filled moments between the two of them.
"Good to know that some things don't change," she replied, the smile she wore slipping from her face at the mere mention of Wade. "I know and he's the reason that I am here," she confessed. "It's been far to long," she said, leaving it at that. There are so many phrases that she could place there and she really didn't know which one to go with.
"Yeah," Lavon nodded, placing her luggage in the back.
On the drive to Bluebell they caught up on the others life. Lavon more than happy to dish out the ongoings in Bluebell, the only stuff he left out was anything to do with Wade. He was going to let Zoe see for herself what he had done since she had left. There were things that she needed to see in person and not be told about.
She had thought about sitting on his porch to wait for him to come home, but she didn't want to sit and wait for him not to come home. She didn't know anything about his life, she left herself block everything to do with him out. And now she regretted it the most. Her second option wasn't any better, as she didn't want to be having any fall out with him in public so going to the Rammer Jammer and slipping on a stool at the bar, it could have been the stupidest thing she has done in a long time, but she found that she couldn't stop herself.
If he had been surprised to see her, he hadn't shown it when he filled a glass with her favorite wine. She was shocked and pleasantly surprised to see that her brand of wine was still there. No one else in town drank it and with being gone for a year, she expected for it to be tossed. Or more like threw against a wall to shatter, or even shot at. Anything to let his aggression out over. But he hadn't done that, or maybe he had and he had ordered some more. And that thought warmed her more than it should have. Gave her hope that they could fix everything between them.
"Doc," Wade grunted, refilling her glass. "Passing through?" He questioned with snark, placing the wine back in its spot and leaning on elbow. His tone should have hurt her, but it made her more determined.
"Wade," she said, looking at her wine, not even sure when she had drank the first glass to need a refill. "Passing through?" She mimicked, shaking her head. "No, it's come to my attention that this is home," she told him softly. "Think we can talk, somewhere," she said, daring to glance around the place seeing they had the attention of everyone in there, not a single one of them ashamed to have been caught. "Less crowded?" She asked, looking back at Wade.
"Give me a minute," he sighed, pushing himself away from the counter and walking off. It gave her a chance to down the last of her wine to try to settle the iron butterflies freaking out in the pit of her stomach. She couldn't let her nerves get the best of her. She would get out what she needed to say and let Wade make whatever call he thinks is best for him. Not that she won't fight for him, she won't walk away from him again.
"You got it boss." That little statement drew her attention to see Wade walking her way. Wordlessly she got up and followed him out in the fading day light, some of the heat going with it.
"Boss?" She questioned, licking her lips as they walked at a slow pace. She wrapped her arms around herself, while Wade stuffed his hands into his pockets, giving a nod.
"Uh, yeah, bought it with Lemon," he nodded. "What made you come back?" Wade questioned, getting down to the nitty-gritty, not wanting to wait any longer for answers to questions he has built over the last year.
"You," she simply told him, stopping when he had stopped to look at her. "I had thought that I had forgiven you, that I would be able to come back here when those three months were up," she nodded, letting her eyes meet his, wanting him to see the emotions that played in her brown eyes, because he needed to see and hear what she is saying. "My bags were packed," she shrugged. "I just couldn't commit to coming back here. I wasn't ready to face you."
"Why now, Zoe?" He asked. "It's been a year, and you're ready to face it all now?" He questioned, pulling a hand from one of his pockets to run it through his hair. "Did you think that maybe I had moved on, because I had thought you moved on. With Jonah at that," he sneered out. She nodded sadly.
"He's the one that made me see how much I am still in love with you," she told him, dreading what she is to say next. But it needed to be said, because she didn't want any secrets between them. If anything were to happen with them, they couldn't have secrets to break the fragile shell they have going for a friendship, if you could even call it that. "He proposed," she told him softly.
"And you what? Thought it best that I need to hear that you have moved on, right out of the damn horses mouth?" He yelled, closing his eyes. Zoe shook her head, reaching out to take his hands, not an easy feat when he kept pulling away from her.
"I thought it best to tell you in person that I told him no, because in that moment, I couldn't imagine my life with anyone but you," she told him softly but sternly, laying her heart out there for him to do with it as he choose to do. "I realized that I love you, whole heartily and I can't bear to be in that city when my home is here. It may have taken me an extra nine months to sort it out, but I am here, Wade, ready to give you my all," she stressed.
"What if I have moved on?" He asked, taking a deep breath, processing everything that Zoe had told him. "Because it's not as if I sat here, for the last year pining after you, Zoe," he stated.
"Then I guess we find a way to coexist, because I am right where I want to be. I am home," she told him. "Unlike last time, I am going to fight for you," she vowed. What they have is something special and she isn't going to let that go, not after losing it once.
"Crazy as ever, Doc," Wade laughed, licking his lips, pulling her to him. "I may be crazy too," he said, leaning down to press his lips against hers.
A single kiss that promised so much and everything. A feeling of being home passing from one to the other. They soaked up the others love through a kiss that deepened that held their futures in the balance. Because after everything, they were right where they wanted to be.
They were home.